Former WBC cruiserweight world champion Tony Bellew has labelled the man whom he believes to be the ‘most avoided fighter’ within the sport, as a rejuvenated heavyweight seeks to stake his claim and work his way back to the peak of boxing’s glamour division.
The heavyweight division is booming once again, with Anthony Joshua in fine form and the first undisputed heavyweight title clash of the millennia taking place next month, while the likes of Joseph Parker, Zhilei Zhang and Filip Hrgovic all posing threats to the throne.
However, one man who has been forgotten of late is Michael Hunter, who lost to Oleksandr Usyk as a cruiserweight back in 2017 and has been at heavyweight ever since, drawing with Alexander Povetkin and defeating fighters such as Martin Bakole and Sergey Kuzmin.
Although, recent inactivity has seen ‘The Bounty’ drop out of the rankings with all four of the sanctioning bodies, which was partly due to scheduled opponent Hughie Fury twice pulling out of a fight with the American.
On social media, Tony Bellew wished Hunter good luck in his newly-announced upcoming fight, before labelling him as the ‘most avoided fighter’.
Best of luck champ! You deserve a break! #MostAvoidedFighter
— Tony Bellew (@TonyBellew) April 6, 2024
“Best of luck champ! You deserve a break! #MostAvoidedFighter”
Hunter now seeks to shake off any ring rust, ending a two-year spell of inactivity back in September and fighting once more just two weeks ago, winning both of those contests by knockout.
Regardless of his recent outing, Hunter will return for a third fight in three weeks as he travels to Tashkent, Uzbekistan to take on undefeated Russian, Artem Suslenkov (10-0), appearing on the same bill as fellow heavyweight contender, Bakhodir Jalolov.